Question

Using ARC vs optical passthrough - Samsung

  • 26 November 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 2051 views
S
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Hey folks,

I've searched extensively but haven't seen an answer to this question: my TV (Samsung UE48H6700) fails to pass Dolby Digital from HDMI to optical. Despite that, is it possible that it is passing DD through the HDMI ARC port?

To test it, I will need to buy an HDMI to optical adapter than can handle ARC (wish SONOS had put an HDMI port on the playbase). Obviously if it works, it would negate the need for an HDMI switch with optical out (HDMI with optical out needed as new peripherals like Amazon Fire and Apple TV don't have their own optical outs) so greatly simplify (and cheapen) the setup and avoid lip-sync issues.

I can force my Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Xbox one to deliver DD to my TV (took a while to figure out that you need to manually select HDMI video output first in the Xbox settings before you can select Bitstream under HDMI audio out), and I can then select DD on the TV's additional audio settings, but it is then silent with either its internal speakers or outputting via optical to the playbase. The playbase works when the TV and Xbox are on PCM, and DD 5.1 works when I plug the Xbox straight into the playbase.

I'd be grateful for any thoughts. I'm really on the fence on whether to keep the playbase. When it works in DD 5.1 it sounds amazing with Play:1s behind, but I can't be doing with a complicated setup that no one else in my household can operate.

Thanks very much,

Stewart
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1 reply

S
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Hey, so just in case anyone was interested, the ARC HDMI port does NOT pass through the DD input from other HDMI ports, so same issue as on optical.

I purchased a ViewHD 3 HDMI switch with optical output and ARC for $40 from Amazon and it's working great so far. Let's me use 4 sources to the playbar. It took me a while to programme the ARC to toggle on/off when I use the smart TV rather than the 3 HDMI inputs, but once I'd figured that out it was smooth sailing. It all works great thanks to my Harmony remote.
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